Well, it's November now. Time for the inevitable swirl of craziness as we spiral toward the holidaze. Every year, I think, "Not this year!" and every year, I end up overwhelmed and exhausted. Unfortunately, all the articles and blog posts about 40 steps to a stress free Christmas just intimidate me. Anyway, back to our past week.
At co op this week, the boys started another two part art project. In their science class, they've wrapped up states of matter and moved on to magnetism.
Luke's teacher sent me this picture of him petting BUNNIES at school. His new medication is not controlling his seizures like we hoped it would. Unfortunately, his neurologist is only in the office one day a month, so we won't be able to change it until December.
Luke will be having genetic testing run soon, so depending on how long it takes to get those results back, we may have some answers eventually. It could still be months away, however. Genetic testing is a lengthy process.
Jack was playing cars with the girls, and if you look close, you'll notice that one of the teens might have been playing, too, but didn't want photographic evidence.
Over the years, we've gathered quite a collection of cars. Some of these were actually Paul's.
"Hey, Jack, what part of the body are we studying?" This week, we learned about eyes and bones.
Again, I think this is a good book, but my boys are just not into coloring, so they're not enjoying it as much as another child might. It's this one
, if you're curious. (affiliate link)
The bones thing worked out well. I didn't plan for it to fall on Halloween week, it just happened that way.
We did have an incident where there was a leg connected to the backbone, and I found myself asking, "Has anyone seen Jack's pelvis?" Much hilarity ensued, and I had to print him another one. I still don't know what happened to the first one. It probably went to live with the single socks.
Jack painted his skeleton with Glow-in-the-Dark Paint
(affiliate link), which is hard to photograph, of course. I'm thinking he missed a spot. I'm not seeing any ribs on this picture. Interestingly, he put the bottle of paint on my dresser, and when I went to bed, I had forgotten about it, and had to get up and move it after turning out the light and discovering that it really does glow in the dark.
Both boys have finishes book one of their Spelling You See levels, and have started on book two. I am hoping that level F comes out by the time Eli finishes E. He's enjoying the paragraph topics in American Spirit, but I think Ancient Achievements will be a good match for us, given all the things we've been studying this year and last.
After our walk the other day, we made trail mix for snack. Some years, I've gathered up all the M&Ms from the kids' Halloween candy to use for trail mix, but this year, there were only a couple bags of them.
Looking ahead, we'll continue to learn about Galen, and Mozart, and early Christianity, and teeth.
Linking up with:
That body book looks great. Would you recommend one for each child, or can one be used for several kids?
ReplyDeleteIt's reproducible, so you'd only need one. :) It's a deeper understanding than the one I've used before: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1557342113/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=1557342113&linkCode=as2&tag=greatbless-20&linkId=IJZ5PUEAMFPYXDLI I actually like this one better, I think the final project turns out nice. But the kids get more learning out of the Scholastic one.
DeleteI can't wait to study the human body again next year. Right now I'm teaching high school chemistry, and it sometimes makes my head hurt!
ReplyDeleteOh, I bet! We've had fun with body studies before, but they've been at the elementary level. We're all learning this time around.
DeleteSheckie..I don't want to be too intrusive, but I'm curious: what will genetic testing tell you about Luke? I find myself wondering sometimes if we need more testing for our autistic Chinese daughter, but I'm clueless about what tests can show. Thanks for any info.
ReplyDeleteStephanie
Not too intrusive at all. :) Genetic testing is a catchphrase that can mean anything from testing for one specific genetic syndrome to full blown exome mapping. Scientists can look at specific genes that are suspected of having a problem, or look at each and every gene--which takes much longer, of course.
DeleteFor Luke, the benefit of genetic testing is that if we identify a known syndrome or disorder, it will give us some sort of prognosis. Are we looking at a condition that improves, stays the same, or deteriorates? Is it fatal? Are there drug treatments we can try?
I am hoping that we'll get some answers that will help us make decisions regarding his care, but the truth is, those answers are likely still months away.
Thanks for the answer. I hope you get those answers sooner than you expect.
ReplyDeleteHe had his blood drawn this week to send to Los Angeles. So in 3-4 months, we should get some news. Plus, he's got the pre-appointment for his muscle biopsy finally scheduled, to see if we're dealing with something mitochondrial. Baby steps. (Which is total irony, because he's now refusing to stand, even long enough for me to pull up his pants, sigh.)
Delete